World War I - Day One

Today is the 100th anniversary of World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the "War to End all Wars". Tensions between the many Eurasian powers culminate in this 4-year-3-month conflict.

This declaration of war and subsequent bombardment come exactly one month after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie (Duchess of Hohenberg) in Sarajevo by then-nineteen-year-old Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip (who is often connected to the secret military organization Black Hand).

As a response, the Habsburgs sent Serbia the July Ultimatum on the 23rd, a 10-point list of demands which would effectively crush all anti-Austro-Hungarian sentiment out of Serbia. She met all demands but one (#6, which called for her to let in Austro-Hungarian investigators).

The assassination, and the refusal to meet demand #5, were Habsburg pretexts to declare war and bombard Serbia.

Tsar Nicholas II calls for this partial mobilization out of pan-Slavic solidarity.

Nationalism was of vital importance to European powers at the time, and is responsible for both bringing separate groups together, and pitting them against each other in conflict. It was the reason behind Serbo-Habsburg tensions which eventually led to the Sarajevo assassination (Serbian royalty swore allegiance to them for their common fight against the Ottoman Empire), the creation of and support for the German Empire, and ties between South Slavic nations and Russia. These nations proved their might militarily.

SMS Goeben was being repaired steadily at Pola (part of Croatian Austria-Hungary at the time). However, Souchon decides to do all the repairs he can so he can leave before the war catches him.

This map shows the military alliances in 1914; they reflect the beginning of the war.

The Triple Entente is named so due to its inclusion of three European powers - the United Kingdom, France and the Russian Empire.

The Central Powers, also known as the Triple Alliance, consisted of the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Italy.

These alliances were not permanent. States came and states went.

Note that Serbia and Montenegro were allied with Russia due to all three being Slavic countries.

Also note that African colonies are involved. Make no mistake - although most blood was spilled on the European continent, World War I was indeed a war involving most of the world; it will eventually extend to the Middle East and Africa with mainly imperial skirmishes between European powers.

What do you think about these kinds of posts? Do you want them to be daily? Weekly? Monthly? Yearly? Anything in between?

Do you want them to continue?

EDIT: People seem to be interested, and I would *really* love to do this kind of thing daily, but I can't promise more than once a week. University starts very soon for me, and I get burnout immediately. I want this thing to continue, so a weekly-ish schedule is all I can promise.

EDIT2: Due to my earlier promise of weekly posts, and multiple specific requests for "World War Wednesday", starting the 30th, I will post World War I content every Wednesday. This works for three reasons:

* It's weekly,

* Wednesday is a short day re: coursework, and

* It's an alliteration!

Thank @AsesinoRosado for the idea, @fobfreak1 for solidarity, and @lesserknowncharacter for mentioning Wednesday.